Reeling Sky fall 72-65 to Washington Mystics

Shoot season-worst 31.3 percent in 11th loss in 14 games

July 09, 2014|By Blake Schuster, Tribune reporter

Down by five with less than a minute to play, the Sky came out of a timeout looking to force the Washington Mystics into playing tight. Instead, the Sky missed two 3-pointers before turning the ball over and falling 72-65 at Allstate Arena.

The Sky haven't lost control of their season so much as they're fighting every force that says they have.

"Unless we learn some discipline and stay connected to it," coach Pokey Chatman said, "we're not going to win another game."

On Wednesday, that meant fighting off a season-low 31.3 shooting percentage against a team tied for the worst record in the WNBA. It meant relying on their defense to win.

That's not to say the Sky (8-11) weren't scoring — four players finished in double digits, and the Sky made 22 free throws — but many shots looked forced and the Sky converted only five second-chance points on 67 shots.

Yet they were still alive in the final minute against the Mystics (8-12), despite the continued absences of point guard Courtney Vandersloot, out up to 10 weeks with a sprained MCL, and All-Star forward Elena Delle Donne, still in Delaware receiving health care for what she has called a flare-up of Lyme disease symptoms.

Delle Donne remains day-to-day, which is the only way the Sky can look at their season after losing 11 of 14. They lost only 10 games all last season.

"Of course this is not where we want to be," said center Sylvia Fowles, who had 19 points and 17 rebounds. "We've got to put it together collectively as a team and get back to the .500 mark."

With only three games until the All-Star break, any positive steps won't be easy to maintain.

"It's about momentum," Chatman said. "We'll get some momentum, and then I'll be mad it's the break. I hope that's my problem."

The problem Wednesday was the Sky couldn't score when they needed to and didn't hit their first 3-pointer until less than six minutes remained in the fourth quarter, finishing 1-for-11.

Emma Meesseman led the Mystics with 12 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.